Latinos without Borders: 2010´s music in review

Posted on Saturday, January 8

Latinos without Borders: 2010´s music in review
By Catalina Maria Johnson, Ph.D.

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It was an amazing year for our music – a genre-bending, rhythm mixing and re-mixing, no holds-barred, fearless-crossing-of-borders kind of musical year. One thing for sure, our music this year defied easy description and facile labels. Flamenco or tango or jazz? Merengue or techno? Irish mariachi?

We are all of the above and so much more. Latin music collects the voices of many peoples that history brought together by choice, chance, or force, and shares the dialogues of their cultures in rhythm and melody.

Here´s ten albums (in no particular order) that we especially loved in 2010 for being music that bears witness to this quality of joyful adapting which is the beauty and strength of Latinos, ¡Long live – VIVA – la música latina!

Entren los que quieran
Calle 13
Sony U.S. Latin

The talented duo of Residente and Visitante from Puerto Rico, in their third album, once
again set us moving to the smartest, most bitingly danceable lyrics around. Destined to be
a classic, the track “Latinoameríca” features Susana Baca from Perú. Toto la Momposina
from Colombia. Maria Rita from Brazil and lyrics that keep you thinking and a beat that
keeps you dancing.

Oro
Choc Quib Town
Nacional

Fiercely proud and passionate about their heritage, this hip hop trio from the town
of Quibdó, province of Chocó, Colombia (hence their name) garnered a 2010 Latin
Grammy for Best Alternative Song for this CD¨S “De Donde Vengo Yo. The trio excels
at transitioning easily between traditional material that exists in Colombia and Panamá
along the Pacific since the days of slavery, and intelligent, melodic hip hop.

El Juidero
Rita Indiana and Los Misterios
Sony U.S. Latin

Rita Indiana is also a renowned writer and visual artist in addition to being a musician.
Her music is as unique as she is, straddling the musical universe somewhere between
merengue and techno, delivering nuanced narratives in rapid-fire hard-core Dominican
dialect. The CD includes what could become a new and most danceable immigrant
anthem: “La hora de Volve” – all about the moment in an immigrant´s life when you turn
your back on the supposed dream and just go home.

Afrocubism
Afrocubism
Nonesuch

Much like a “Buenavista 2. 0” – this album brings together musicians that had it not been
for visas and politics, would have made music together in the 1990´s Ry Cooder project.
Now, nearly fifteen years later, ubertalented playing of kora, ngoni, balafon, percussion,
brass and guitar by musicians from both continents that are superstars in their own right
makes for an album of great artistry. Perhaps somewhat more successful as Cuban music
reinvented by Malians rather than Malian music reworked by Cubans, nevertheless,
the bringing together of rural Cuban and Malian griot traditions takes the listener on an
amazing sonic journey.

Alex Cuba
Alex Cuba
Caracol

Afrocuban singer-songwriter Alex Cuba´s is this year´s Latin Grammy-awarded “Best
New Artist. Following up on his Juno (Canadian Grammy)-winning albums “Humo de
Tabaco” and “Agua del Pozo”, this third CD with its first-ever English language tune,
delivers another set of sweet melodies and pleasing pop hooks, which he accompanies
with funky, soulful guitar and smooth, romantic lyrics. The ballads Cuba croons stray
gently into your consciousness and stay there for a long, long time.

Lero Lero
Luisa Maita
Cumbancha

Luisa Maita´s unique background (Brazilian, Syrian, Jewish) and the many multicultural
influences and vibrant life of her beloved Sao Paolo neighborhood of Bixiga, may help
explain why her sound seems particularly fresh. This is a lovely album of dreamy,
sensual vocals with a modern vibe, set in an alternative electronic context but firmly
rooted in samba, bossa nova, MPB, and all with a lightly jazzy, laid-back aesthetic.

Chicavasco
Rana Santacruz
Rana Santacruz

Rana Santacruz´s delightful melodies tell all sorts of wonderful tales –a funeral where the
tears of women for the dearly beloved are flooding the town, stories of sailors and Lady
Death, the star-crossed love between a turkey and a peacock – sweet and sentimental
tales that are never cloying nor maudlin, all served up in a highly original alt Mexican
folk that hybridizes the many influences of Mexican music, from polkas and waltzes to
tropical and mariachi.

El Ultimo Trago
Concha Buika and Chucho Valdés
Wea International

An extraordinary collaboration between one of the finest afrocuban jazz pianists, Chucho
Valdes, from the famed Valdes family (son of Bebo, sister to Mayra, father to Chuchito)
and Concha Buika, a free-spirited afroflamenca born in Guinea but raised in Palmas de
Mallorca, singing ranchera songs in a tribute to the music of legendary singer Chavela
Vargas. These achingly passionate songs of rural Mexico were recorded in Havana,
and are transformed by the artists into swinging boleros that take the heart-wrenching
romance of the rancheras to an elegant, jazzy plane.

Cigala & Tango
Diego el Cigala
Ediciones El País y Gran Vía Musical de Ediciones S.L.

In 1935, Carlos Gardel died, and on that day some of the most beloved tango crooning
was lost to the world. One of his most famous compositions, “El día que me quieras”,
exemplifies why we loved this CD, the result of a concert recorded live at the Gran Rex
in Buenos Aires on April 29th, 2010. The great flamenco artist, Diego el Cigala, takes
eleven tango standards which he chose specifically because besides being suited to his
voice, they were songs “that hurt” to create breathtakingly beautiful tunes that divinely
transcend the borders between between flamenco and tango.

Hands
Dave Holland and Pepe Habichuela
Dare2 Records

Renowned bassist Dave Holland teams up with Pepe Habichuela of the Habichuela
flamenco dynasty for a flamenco-ized jazz album that is of exquisite beauty – a lyrical,
rhythmically spicy blend of jazz and flamenco with a touch more of the latter than the
former. Most of the material was composed by Jose Antonio Carmona or Jose Miguel
Carmona, so Holland´s light touch is applied to many of flamenco´s classic “palos” or
rhythms from the upbeat fandango, rumba and buleria forms, to the deepest, darkest cante
jondo.